33 of us in 18 vehicles assembled on a bleary-eyed morning after the Seventh Argus Climb, Desert Deer Roast, & Poetry Contest, drove out to Hwy 178 & headed north on the Trona-Wildrose Road. About 14 miles north of the Inyo County Line we turned left on a good paved road (sign: "Onyx Mine"). North 5.9 miles, then left on a graded dirt road (sign: "Whitaker Mine"). This road is shown on the Death Valley Auto Club map as going in "4.8" miles, but Bendire Canyon is inaccurately shown a mile or two to the north; the road is in Bendire Canyon. This turn-off is about .15 mi. south of a slight leftward bend in the paved road.
We drove in about a mile & consolidated 30 people into 7 or 8 high-clearance vehicles (passenger cars can drive in 3 or 4 mi. from pavement). Two 2WD vans bogged down just after the gravel pit at 5.5 mi from pavement & we squeezed more into 4WD's & proceeded around the northward bend in the canyon to nearly the base of the dry waterfall and parked at about 4850' and 6.7 mi. from pavement.
The hiking route is: Scramble up the talus slope to the west to the top of the ridge to bypass the waterfall, then follow an old ore wagon trail back into the canyon & hike up Bendire Canyon to about 7320', bypassing willow thickets on burro trails. Turn left at a big duck (placed by Maris & me in '85) & follow the side canyon west up the peak. Class 1 all the way, except for an occasional class 2 move in the side canyon.
We started hiking at 9:30 & were all back at the vehicles by 5:10, 7.5 hrs r.t., 4000' gain, 9 mi. r.t.; all 30 made the peak. Maturango can also be done from the east via Knight Canyon and the ridge between Bendire & Knight, but that route has some arduous up & down and is several hours longer. Maturango Peak is the 7.5' topo. Maturango Peak SE shows the first 2 mi of the dirt road but isn't necessary.
Both Maturango and Argus Peaks are in the China Lake Naval Weapons Center, Argus by 1.6 mi, Maturango by 3.2 mi. The USGS topos show this clearly, and the Auto Club map shows Maturango Peak, but not Argus Peak. The Auto Club map clearly shows Matu- range as being inside the "restricted area".
However, there are no signs, fences, or any other indication of a restricted area on the ground, on any of the eastern approaches to Argus or Maturango. The California trespass law, Section 602(k), requires ALL of the following for one to be in violation: The land must be fenced AND signed AND one must fail to leave the property on request! (John Backus quotes & interprets the statute in the Sep-Oct '86 HPS Lookout.) There may be a more restrictive federal law, but it seems reasonable to me that, if we were ever apprehended hiking into either of these peaks, we would merely be asked to leave & not enter again.
A few of our members are afraid to climb Argus or Maturango because they're afraid of losing security clearances, and in one case, someone is afraid of jeopardizing his reserve officer status! Perhaps we could allow these folks to substitute second climbs of two of our seven emblem peaks for climbs of Argus & Maturango for list-completion purposes.
These two peaks don't rank as "top ten" peaks on our list but they're certainly not in the bottom ten either! Argus has a lot of historical significance, especially DPS history, and both peaks are interesting hikes. I agree that we should present proposed deletion of both peaks from our list to the membership, but I urge a NO vote on this deletion, until such time as the eastern approaches are signed with "Keep Out" notices!!
